Flight Centre's decision to abandon its policy of charging customers seeking refunds for travel cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised more questions than it answers for many clients.
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The travel giant has agreed to reimburse thousands of customers who, from March 13, were charged a cancellation fee of $300 per person for a cancelled international flight or $50 for a domestic flight.
The fee was applied to all those hoping to recoup the cost of the flight rather than accept a credit for future travel.
Flight Centre customer Sydney's Melissa Johnston, co-founder of the Facebook page Flight Centre - Give us our refunds, was initially excited by the company's announcement.
"Then it's like hang on, let's read the fine print and now it seems like there are just so many issues," Ms Johnston said.
"People are already finding out that even though they said it would be 12 weeks for refunds, Flight Centre is now saying to some people it's six months.
"They mentioned if you leave the money in credit with them, you'd get up to a $200 voucher based on your spend. I've just found out that some people have been told that they are not actually going to be able to get that even though they are eligible according to what they announced," Ms Johnston said.
A Flight Centre spokesperson said that "administering individual refunds from multiple travel providers is a time-consuming and intensive process".
"It typically takes up to 12 weeks to receive funds back from suppliers in a normal trading environment. In this current climate, which is far from normal, and with airlines standing down staff and reducing services, this timeframe is being pushed out significantly.
There are also people, Ms Johnston said, who Flight Centre claims, must wait for suppliers before refunds can be paid.
"However, people are calling the suppliers and finding out 'no, we've refunded Flight Centre' weeks ago but then Flight Centre is saying they haven't got the money."
Flight Centre denies delaying payments.
"In most cases, Flight Centre does not hold customer's funds but pays these promptly to third party suppliers for the travel service that has been booked
"We may hold funds until all suppliers have returned monies so that we can refund the payment in one sum."
The spokesperson said deposit refunds were dependent on the supplier.
The ACCC received more than 6000 complaints from consumers dissatisfied with travel companies' refund policies and cancellation fees, with thousands more contacting their local state or territory fair trading agencies seeking assistance to resolve individual disputes.
The ACCC said its next step would have been court action if Flight Centre did not change its position.
"The biggest issue now is them coming through with what they have announced," Ms Johnston said. "It seems to be promises and no action, people are still really yet to see refunds."
A lack of communication also was disheartening, Ms Johnston said, with phones often disconnected and emails unanswered.
"It seems that the people who are getting help are the ones that can still get in touch with their agent in the actual offices, and a lot of offices have closed down.
"Trying to get hold of them or trying to get through, or get any real information ... to me I think that's the worse thing at the moment, that you can't get through to ask questions, speak to someone."
Addressing the poor communication, the spokesperson said customers whose consultants had been stood down/furloughed had been directed to customer service lines.
"We have also kept our website updated consistently to provide information to our customers.
"It's also possible due to high volumes that there are delays and busy phone lines but we are certainly working hard to manage customer inquiry under difficult circumstances."
Another question for many members of the Facebook page relates to the retrospective refund date for bookings cancelled as a result of COVID-19 on or after March 13, 2020.
The company said the date was based on when its own "COVID-19 cancellation policy was implemented" in this case, March 13, 2020.
Further concern surrounds deposits not being refunded, with some clients offered credits.
Describing the situation as a nightmare, Ms Johnston is urging people not to be complacent if their issues are not being addressed.
"Keep complaining to the ACCC ... even though you've complained once, you need to go back, follow it up and lodge any further complains."
